


And She Turned it to Gold

by experimentorium



Series: pearlina week 2k20! [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, aka i was just thinking about marina in a backless dress, yes i know the maid of honor doesnt wear a suit but pearl said fuck the law ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentorium/pseuds/experimentorium
Summary: Pearl's sister is getting married, and Pearl is part of the wedding party. Marina reminisces.(For Prompt 2: Concert Lights)
Relationships: Marina/Pearl (Splatoon)
Series: pearlina week 2k20! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791904
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	And She Turned it to Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Partially inspired by the fact that like 4 of my cousins got married in the last 2 years, and 3 more are getting married in the next two.. I'm still not much of a partier, lol

The inn they’re staying in is lovely; the architecture is retro-kitschy and cozy, and when Marina opens the window in their room, she hears crickets chirping and the gentle trickle of a stream. In fact, Marina has found their room an excellent place to hide from all of Pearl’s boisterous family members—she always manages to forget that Pearl’s extended family is just _her_ times thirty, and some happen to be male. Pearl’s sister’s friends aren’t that much more approachable. 

The wedding starts in around eight hours, but Pearl is part of the wedding party so she has to start up early. In fact, the bride herself broke into the room at nine-thirty to make sure Pearl was waking up. It was a mere stroke of luck that Marina was in their bathroom washing up; her body’s strict sleep regiment saved them all an awkward moment. Marina’s not quite sure what to do with herself while Pearl’s half-dressing herself, half-grumbling about rude awakenings, so she gets dressed, too. It feels a little silly, wearing a fancy dress before noon, but Marina likes the flowiness of the skirt when she walks, and she knows it has the power to divert Pearl’s attention. 

“Pearl,” Marina starts. “Can you tie my halter? I can’t seem to—get it…”

“Suremm,” Pearl yawns, tie hanging loose and untired under the collar of her shirt. She takes the ribbons from Marina’s fingers and ties a surprisingly neat double bow at the nape of her neck; she drapes herself over Marina’s shoulders. Their eyes meet in the vanity mirror’s reflection, and Pearl’s eyes widen.

“Oh, wow, you look...wow…” she breathes, and Marina laughs.

“Thank you, Pearlie,” her tentacle twirls about Pearl’s wrist affectionately. The dress is backless, too; she can feel the fabric of Pearl’s shirt across her shoulders. “So eloquent. I knew I saw something in you.”

Pearl chuckles lazily, squeezing Marina’s shoulders and sliding back onto the bed. Just then, heavy, quick knocks land on their door.

“You’d better be awake, shitface!” Pearl’s sister growls. 

“Fuck you! It’s like ten! Go bother one of your airhead friends!” Pearl shouts. 

“Your ass better be hauled out of this room on time, or you’ll be eating shit, Houzuki!”

Pearl hisses like a cat, and heavy footsteps fall in the hallway, growing distant. “God, bridezilla much?”

Marina gives her a questioning look. “And she made _you_ maid of honor?”

“I know, right?” Pearl sits up. “I’m maid of _metal_ , through and through.” Her grin is overbearing and stupid and Marina shakes her head. 

The large wedding celebration is something Marina has yet to completely grasp the concept of. She understands celebrating love, and having wonderful food and a good time with family and friends, but couldn’t it be done at a lower volume? Maybe that sounds hypocritical, she self-checks while watching the rehearsal procession in the empty wedding hall. As if summoned by magic, Pearl glances her direction and makes a ridiculous face, which Marina has no choice but to reciprocate. Thankfully, Pearl’s sister doesn’t notice, and Marina sure hopes whichever godly presence that altar is there for doesn’t notice it, either. 

Pearl’s brand of loud is different. At least, to her it is. The difference between a huge party making noise and Pearl making noise is that, well… Pearl is special. To her. She can instill terror with her voice, it leaves Marina in awe; it’s almost primal. A spider skitters across the hardwood floors, and Marina watches it go. 

Her earliest memories of Pearl are up in lights. In the warehouse the speakers were amped up so loud that the ground beneath her feet vibrated with sound. Spotlights on the inkling girl who wandered the woods of Mount Nantai and shouted things Marina didn’t understand as she bore her soul through raucous screaming that somehow made something click in Marina’s head. She had inspected the speakers after they inevitably blew out that night. This inkling wasn’t just noise, just sound. Her voice was _power_ , so strong Marina could see the frequency radiating over the crowd, bouncing off of surfaces and people and reverberating the warehouse into collapse. It was then Marina had realized she wanted to attach herself to this inkling, as soon as she could manage. 

The ceremony is lovely and the couple looks beautiful together, and Pearl doesn’t cry but her mother does, and her father tries to hold it in until he finishes walking the bride down the aisle and she turns to hug him with stars in her eyes. It’s very sweet, and after the vows and exit procession Marina's just starting to get used to the back of the folding chair sticking to her skin in the heat when a bouquet of flowers pegs her in the back of her head; the bride brims with giggly apologies as she and her entourage of bridesmaids come to gather it. Some of the other girls look upset, and Marina vaguely remembers Pearl telling her about some tradition, with the bouquet. She figures it doesn’t matter. 

Around dinnertime is when the music starts, and the volume amps up so loud Marina can barely hear herself think. She would’ve been a _much_ more considerate DJ if she’d been hired, but she also wouldn't want to waste her time playing top 100 hits from the last twenty years instead of the music she makes, the music that comprises her (and Pearl’s) livelihood. After eating a lovely salad with fresh strawberries and bean sprouts, Marina decides to leave before the way her nerves have kicked up prompt her to vomit, or crawl somewhere and hide, and maybe cry a little. Pearl’s been whisked around all night, catching up with family she hasn’t seen in years, posing for photos with the rest of the wedding party; she offers Marina an apologetic look every time she’s intercepted, but Marina waves her away, mouthing _go_ _on_. 

And of course she’s okay. Even if she does feel a little out of place here, in the midst of such a party crowd. She hadn’t even bothered scanning the dining room for Pearl when she picked up her clutch and left.

The venue is an old mansion which belonged to a rich family hundreds of years ago, Marina reads on a plaque on the hallway. Now the property is preserved for renting purposes. 

The foyer is large and grand and empty, and Marina’s eye catches on a sign pointing to a library. The library, she finds, is just as grand as the foyer, with huge ceilings and mahogany walls with long, arched windows that filter the late-evening light. She immediately feels more comfortable. She settles into a large, squashy chair set in front of a flickering electric fireplace that’s set in front of the real (unlit) fireplace, with an ornate mantelpiece. The air smells like paper and wood polish. Libraries became something of a sanctuary to her, on the surface. File libraries in the domes were always sparse and censored, but a library in Inkopolis could be full of books about anything, or anyone, instead of being limited to ammunition for hatred and revenge.

The chair is so comfortable, she wants to fall asleep. She misses Pearl. She misses last night, when she fell asleep in Pearl’s arms after they made fun of some late-night vapid reality show. 

She’s just about to stand and start wandering again when somebody calls out to her. 

“Hey, Reena, you in here?” Pearl steps around the first row of bookshelves, a can in her hand. 

“Over here,” Marina waves, and Pearl notices her with a grin. 

“Hey, now, did I call it or what? They told me there’s a library, I figured there’s a Marina who’s gonna find it,” Pearl half-dances sideways over to the fireplace, and plops down in the chair across from Marina. 

Marina nods to the can. “Is that…?”

“Oh, no, just soda,” Pearl takes a sip. “Strawberry. Apparently it’s imported… didn’t feel like getting hammered to death, y’know? Weddings’re killers on that front…”

Marina’s gaze drifts downwards, to the rug under the fireplace. 

“Party’s out there, y’know…” 

“Oh, I’m not a party girl,” Marina presses her lips together.

“Well, I know that, but…” Pearl trails off. “Hey, are you alright?”

All of the sudden, Marina feels helpless.

“It was just getting a little loud, I needed a break.” It’s certainly not a lie, but it’s not the whole truth, either. 

Pearl nods, setting her can down on the end table next to her chair. “Okay, just making sure... ‘cause I’m _apparently_ an important member of the wedding party, so I should probably head back soon, but I wanted to—”

“It’s-it’s the way you walk!” Marina blurts. 

Pearl blinks at her. “Sorry, what? Does it bother you?” Her eyes dance with unsure amusement. 

“Ah, no, I,” Marina wants to put her head through a wall, because there’s no possible way she could explain to Pearl how she always walks like she knows where she wants to be, she holds herself like she’s conquered what limitations she was handed and no movement is without purpose. She’s, she’s…

“You’re so _confident_ ,” Marina remembers the lights in her eyes, on the night of their first concert as Off the Hook. Lights in the crowd when she couldn’t even see their faces, lights above them and lights shining from below and lights flashing, reflecting off of her turntables and there was Pearl, with her glowing grin, running across the stage doing her hype schtick that always, always got the crowd roaring. She absorbed all that light that blinded Marina, repurposed it and turned it to gold. “I just, I don’t know how you do it! I feel so, so _weird_ and _gangly_ sometimes, and you just seem so effortless!” 

Pearl’s eyes are wide, she blinks and starts laughing, running her hand over her forehead. 

“Oh my god, Marina, d’you know how unfair it is for you to say that to me?” Marina opens her mouth in shock. “ _I’m_ confident? I look at you, and, and I forget how to _breathe_ , I have no fucking idea how you even—you’re _gorgeous_ , Marina. You sparkle, people love you, you’re so smart, and, and _tall_ and I really just feel like the stupid sidekick standing next to you!” 

“No! _I_ feel stupid next to _you_! How can you say that?”

Pearl starts laughing again. “Shut up! You’re perfect!”

“No, you, no, you are!” Despite her uncertainty, Marina starts laughing, too. “You asked me on that date and I thought I was gonna die!”

“Don’t worry, I was one moment from pissing myself when I asked,” Pearl’s smile is giddy. 

“Well!” Marina throws her hands up into the air, forcing back her involuntary grin. “I-I’m glad we had this conversation.”

“Me too!” Pearl nods vigorously. 

And then they’re just two idiots, catching their breath and smiling at each other. 

“So,” Pearl clears her throat. “You wanna ditch this crowd?”

“Pearl, you’re the maid of honor,” Marina blinks. “Won’t your sister be mad?” 

“Aah,” Pearl waves her hand. “She’s with hubby, now. Her stupid friends can keep her company, anyways.” 

Marina exhales. “I, I haven’t eaten dinner.”

“There’s a convenience store by the inn, we can buy all the gross shit we want to eat,” Pearl stands abruptly from her chair and offers her hand to Marina. “M’lady?” 

“Oh, you’re so dashing in a suit,” Marina chuckles, and when she gives Pearl her hand she’s pulled into a kiss. She wants to melt, right here, on this artisan floor tile. 

**Author's Note:**

> funny story, last year I actually wrote every single fic for pearlina week the day (usually the night) before each prompt was scheduled... as u can see I took editing a lot less serious back then pff 
> 
> thanks for reading! :D I've already seen some lovely contributions to pearlina week on twitter, I'm loving this so much!!


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